The Reading & Literacy Committee met this morning to celebrate successes and to discuss Tier 2 & 3 reading and writing interventions for struggling students.
We started the meeting celebrating the completed grant applications that Jennette completed including the Lit Works grant aimed at reluctant readers and Picturing America, a grant from the NEA.
Great news! The School Improvement Plan has been officially approved! Thanks to everyone that contributed to this document and thanks to everyone who will be involved with its implementation.
The ABE Book Celebration will take place after school in the library on Thursday, April 16th.
Michelle Felde, the chair of the Response to Intervention (RtI) Committee, presented four interventions to the R&L Committee.
Two Computer Based Interventions:
Kurzweil Educational Systems is a reading and writing intervention that will implemented by the Special Education Department next year in the Reading and Writing Labs.
Lexia is another program that was being investigated by the Special Education Department and has been used in other school districts with success.
Two Teacher Led Interventions:
Corrective Reading is an intervention targeted at students with low decoding and comprehension skills.
Wilson Language Training is a system that has potential for assisting ELLs.
The Reading & Literacy Committee recommended that the RtI Committee proceed with training a teacher with either the CR Intervention or the Wilson Language System this spring and pilot the two systems with students next fall.
The R&L Committee's next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 6 at 7AM in the Board Room.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
ABE, RtI and Changes
The Reading & Literacy Committee met in the Board Room on the morning of April 1, 2009 at 7:00 AM. We had eight people present for the meeting and had much to discuss. Those present were Mark Lippstreuer, Giovanna , Ewa, Cari F., Dolores Miller, Brett Book, Jennette Gonzales, Jim Smith
Celebrate!
Jennette has had a great response for the literacy festival even having to schedule authors wishing to participate for the following year’s festival!
All the orders have been placed for teams desiring books to boost their classroom libraries or who needed professional development resources for their teams. The books will be delivered directly to those teachers. The Guidance team still has an opportunity to order books before the end of the year.
ABE!
Ridgewood High School had the highest number of students to vote for next year’s Abe books than any other school in the entire state! To celebrate this, the library is hosting an Abe Reading Celebration with music, food, drinks and a FREE copy of one of the 2009 ABE Books on Thursday, April 16th at 3:00 PM in the Library. In addition the 2010 ABE Nominated Books will be revealed!
RtI
Our next meeting is April 15th at 7AM in the Board Room. Michelle Felde will be presenting the needs and concerns of the RtI Committee to the R&L Committee. The RtI Committee is seeking wisdom and advice for reading interventions in Tiers 2 and 3. We will read information about the programs being considered by the RtI Committee and have questions prepared for Michelle.
Changes
Jennette Gonzales will be stepping down as chair of the Reading & Literacy Committee next year. Dolores nominated Mark L Lippstreuer as chair for the committee and he has taken it under consideration.
Celebrate!
Jennette has had a great response for the literacy festival even having to schedule authors wishing to participate for the following year’s festival!
All the orders have been placed for teams desiring books to boost their classroom libraries or who needed professional development resources for their teams. The books will be delivered directly to those teachers. The Guidance team still has an opportunity to order books before the end of the year.
ABE!
Ridgewood High School had the highest number of students to vote for next year’s Abe books than any other school in the entire state! To celebrate this, the library is hosting an Abe Reading Celebration with music, food, drinks and a FREE copy of one of the 2009 ABE Books on Thursday, April 16th at 3:00 PM in the Library. In addition the 2010 ABE Nominated Books will be revealed!
RtI
Our next meeting is April 15th at 7AM in the Board Room. Michelle Felde will be presenting the needs and concerns of the RtI Committee to the R&L Committee. The RtI Committee is seeking wisdom and advice for reading interventions in Tiers 2 and 3. We will read information about the programs being considered by the RtI Committee and have questions prepared for Michelle.
Changes
Jennette Gonzales will be stepping down as chair of the Reading & Literacy Committee next year. Dolores nominated Mark L Lippstreuer as chair for the committee and he has taken it under consideration.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Reading & Literacy Committee met this morning to discuss professional development opportunities.
Celebrations:
Jennette announced that the number of students reporting that they have read four or more Abe books this year rose by 80%! This is an incredible leap and Jennette believes that even more students read over four books, but it may not have been one of the Abe books. Jennette will share her final numbers of how many of those student were boys and girls.
March 20th Institute is Near!
Calling all teachers who would like to share their effective literacy strategies with others! Friday, March 20th is our school's institute day and the Professional Development Committee is looking for a few good presenters that would like to offer their expertise and knowledge for others. If you are interested contact Brian Epply of the PDC.
A few ideas that emerged from our meeting today were:
Celebrations:
Jennette announced that the number of students reporting that they have read four or more Abe books this year rose by 80%! This is an incredible leap and Jennette believes that even more students read over four books, but it may not have been one of the Abe books. Jennette will share her final numbers of how many of those student were boys and girls.
March 20th Institute is Near!
Calling all teachers who would like to share their effective literacy strategies with others! Friday, March 20th is our school's institute day and the Professional Development Committee is looking for a few good presenters that would like to offer their expertise and knowledge for others. If you are interested contact Brian Epply of the PDC.
A few ideas that emerged from our meeting today were:
- Sharing what works in the class
- Getting to know the Ins and Outs of the Library
- Using non-fiction in content areas - reading for information
- Expertise in excel data collection and reporting
- Ideas to steal - collaborative discussion on lesson activities
- Utilizing the power of technology - learning about wikis, blogs, youtube in order to collaborate and share ideas with other teachers from around the building
Sharing:
Jim Smith shared the title of a book he is reading:
The Essential Conversation by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
He says this is a great read for anyone interested in developing the parent-teacher relationship into a productive dialogue.
What's Cool?
Wikis and Blogs!
Stay Current Educator Wiki/
The other site, wikispaces has a ton of education wikis including this:
Wiki for Students/ and Learn more at Wiki.com
Really cool way a teacher designed this wiki/
Even RHS teachers are involved on Wiki
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Minutes from Wednesday, January 28
The Reading & Literacy Committee met this morning to discuss items related to the school's literacy action plan, the School Improvement Plan and other areas associated with reading and literacy at RHS. In attendance was Jennette Gonzales, the chair of the committee, Jim Smith, the school's reading specialist, Beth Abercrombie, math teacher, and Brette Book, English teacher.
Jennette opened the meeting and handed out materials for the upcoming 2009 Teen Lit Fest and hope members will encourage students to participate This fest will be held on Saturday, March 14th and students have the opportunity to meet 6 Chicago land authors. Participating authors are Ann Angel (Such a Pretty Face); Pamela Todd (Blind Faith Hotel); Adam Selzer (How to Get Suspended and Influence People); Stephanie Hale (Revenge of the Homecoming Queen); Claudia Martinez (Smell of Old Lady Perfume); and Simone Elkeles (Leaving Paradise and Perfect Chemistry). Books are available for check out at Eisenhower and RHS.
Jennette provided news regarding the Illinois Literacy Foundation. This program takes donations from local consumers of the Border's book store and converts the donations into gift cards that are then handed to our school as a gift. Every time you are asked a Border's if you would like to donate a dollar to the Illinois Literacy Foundation, this is where the money goes. As a result, Ridgewood is receiving one of its largest donations to date.
Jennette would like to use half of the funds to purchase a graphic novel collection for circulation and to update the Chicago history books in the reference section. The remainder of the money will be used to support the formation of classroom libraries. With that said, the committee decided that a representative from each team should communicate with their team members and develop a priority list of what is needed. If the team feels that several classes would benefit more by having content books for students, then those should be at the top of the list. If the team feels that more professional development books are needed, then those should be a priority. It is all based upon what the team needs.
Time was taken then to discuss questions and/or concerns regarding the SIP and the Gap Analysis that teachers were asked to complete for the February 4th all faculty meeting. Jim Smith will answer questions and concerns during Friday's union breakfast. Overall concerns include "does every box need to be filled in?" and the answer is no. No one is going to look and see what you are doing. Teachers will be responsible for completing what they know and will be responsible for having information to share with their peers.
Jennette revised the meeting dates in February to the 11th and the 25.
The next R&L Committee Meeting will be on Wednesday, February 11th at 7AM in the Board Room.
Jennette opened the meeting and handed out materials for the upcoming 2009 Teen Lit Fest and hope members will encourage students to participate This fest will be held on Saturday, March 14th and students have the opportunity to meet 6 Chicago land authors. Participating authors are Ann Angel (Such a Pretty Face); Pamela Todd (Blind Faith Hotel); Adam Selzer (How to Get Suspended and Influence People); Stephanie Hale (Revenge of the Homecoming Queen); Claudia Martinez (Smell of Old Lady Perfume); and Simone Elkeles (Leaving Paradise and Perfect Chemistry). Books are available for check out at Eisenhower and RHS.
Jennette provided news regarding the Illinois Literacy Foundation. This program takes donations from local consumers of the Border's book store and converts the donations into gift cards that are then handed to our school as a gift. Every time you are asked a Border's if you would like to donate a dollar to the Illinois Literacy Foundation, this is where the money goes. As a result, Ridgewood is receiving one of its largest donations to date.
Jennette would like to use half of the funds to purchase a graphic novel collection for circulation and to update the Chicago history books in the reference section. The remainder of the money will be used to support the formation of classroom libraries. With that said, the committee decided that a representative from each team should communicate with their team members and develop a priority list of what is needed. If the team feels that several classes would benefit more by having content books for students, then those should be at the top of the list. If the team feels that more professional development books are needed, then those should be a priority. It is all based upon what the team needs.
Time was taken then to discuss questions and/or concerns regarding the SIP and the Gap Analysis that teachers were asked to complete for the February 4th all faculty meeting. Jim Smith will answer questions and concerns during Friday's union breakfast. Overall concerns include "does every box need to be filled in?" and the answer is no. No one is going to look and see what you are doing. Teachers will be responsible for completing what they know and will be responsible for having information to share with their peers.
Jennette revised the meeting dates in February to the 11th and the 25.
The next R&L Committee Meeting will be on Wednesday, February 11th at 7AM in the Board Room.
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